The City of Conway released the results of the Roundabout Community Survey and Roundabout Feasibility Study on Wednesday.

Results will be presented to the Conway City Council on Tuesday, May 14.

Conclusion

There are many factors to consider in determining the order to improve the studied intersections that would have the greatest net positive impact on the road users. The available data did not present a case that any of the intersections pose a significant safety risk.

College & Farris

The planned roundabout at the intersection of College Ave and Donaghey Ave will assuredly allow westbound traffic to reach the intersection of College Ave and Farris Rd in higher volumes than today. As such the improvements to delay by converting College Ave and Farris Rd to a roundabout will likely be greater than the improvements to delay in current conditions. With 28 crashes in the, the College Ave and Farris Rd intersections ranks at the top of the studied intersections. While the intersection is constrained on the southwest corner by the doctor’s office parking lot, there appears to be adequate room to construct a roundabout in this location. Constructing a roundabout in this location will greatly benefit the City by improving delay, safety, and adequately accommodating the for future traffic.

Salem & Irby

Since the intersection of Irby Drive and Salem Road meets Warrant 1 and 2 for signalized control some type of improvement is necessary. The available ROW and lack of major utility conflicts make this location ideal for a roundabout. The high number of left turns from Irby Dr increase the safety benefits provided by a roundabout as right-angle collisions are rare in roundabouts. Improving the intersection of Irby Dr/ Salem Rd will produce great benefits for the road users.

Prince & Country Club

The intersection of Prince St/ Country Club Rd narrowly ranked second in terms of delay improvements in the design. School traffic from an elementary school located just north of this intersection will benefit from the installation of a roundabout here. The construction of a roundabout at Prince St/Country Club Rd will complete the Prince Street roundabout corridor thus increasing the overall benefit constructing a roundabout in this location.

Salem & Tyler

The intersection of Salem Rd/Tyler St poses concern regarding the ROW constraints in order to construct an adequately sized roundabout for the current and projected traffic volumes. There are a significant number of drivers turning left from Tyler St to go northbound on Salem Rd. The heavy volumes southbound on Salem Rd during the AM peak cause this intersection to be unbalanced which adds to the complexity of constructing a roundabout at this location. While this location does experience significant delay, optimizing the signal timing may prove beneficial. The improvement to the intersection of Irby Dr/ Salem Rd will likely provide an alternate route for many of the drivers using Tyler St/ Salem road from the west approach. Due to the expected cost and complexity of constructing a roundabout at this location, it will likely not provide as much benefit compared to other intersections in this study.

Prince & Hogan

Due to proper planning by the City of Conway regarding development around the intersection of Prince Street and Hogan Lane, there exists adequate room to construct a roundabout. However, the delay improvements to this isolated intersection are not as great as other intersections and optimizing the existing signals timing plan may prove to provide an acceptable LOS.

College & Prince

College Avenue and Prince Street showed to have the lowest number of crashes of the studied intersections and provide the least amount of improvement to delay of the existing signals. If drivers are experiencing. While adequate space is available to construct roundabouts and would improve the performance of the intersections, the overall benefit to the drivers is not as great at this location.

Safety Results

The intersections were ranked based on number of vehicular crashes reported by the Conway Police Department. The CPD did not have the specifics of each crash so it is not clear if these crashes could be prevented by roundabouts. Roundabouts significantly reduce the number of right-angle crashes (T-Bone) by having all vehicles merge into the circulatory roadway and exit out of the intersections without crossing paths with an opposing vehicle. Roundabouts typically reduce all crashes be lowering the speeds in the intersections. The prioritization of converting intersections to roundabouts based solely on the number of crashes should be as follows:

1. College Avenue & Farris Road – 28 Crashes
2. Tyler Street & Salem Road – 28 Crashes
3. Prince Street & Hogan Road – 23 Crashes
4. Prince Street & Country Club Road – 22 Crashes
5. Irby Drive & Salem Road – 13 Crashes
6. College Avenue & Prince Street – 9 Crashes

Control Delay Results

Judging by the improvements to delay for the design year expected to be realized by converting from signals to roundabouts the prioritization of intersections is as follows:

1. College Avenue & Farris Road – 33.6 Sec/Veh
2. Prince Street & Country Club Road – 33.3 Sec/Veh
3. Tyler Street & Salem Road – 18.8 Sec/Veh
4. Prince Street & Hogan Road – 18.1 Sec/Veh
5. College Avenue & Prince Street – 15.2 Sec/Veh
6. Irby Drive & Salem Road – 14.2 Sec/Veh

Utility, Right of Way, and Construction Considerations

Each intersection presents its own construction challenges. This study looked at the existing utilities and right of way as provided by Conway Corporation, visual inspection of the lay of the land to account for potential grading issues, and existing development. The rankings go from expected least complicated (1) to more complicated (6). The results are as follows:

1. College Avenue & Prince Street
2. Prince Street & Hogan Road
3. Irby Drive & Salem Road
4. College Avenue & Farris Road
5. Prince Street & Country Club Road
6. Tyler Street & Salem Road

Roundabout Community Survey Results

A city-wide survey was conducted by the City of Conway to gather input as to where the citizens of Conway would like to see the next roundabout. This survey should be distinguished from a scientific poll. This survey was administered by the City of Conway on the city’s website. The result of the survey is as follows:

1. Irby Drive & Salem Road – 469 households, 635 total
2. Tyler Street & Salem Road – 482 households, 603 total
3. College Avenue & Farris Road – 354 households, 435 total
4. Prince Street & Country Club Road – 143 households, 192 total
5. Prince Street & Hogan Road – 153 households, 190 total
6. College Avenue & Prince Street – 69 households, 83 total

A comment section was also provided as part of the survey. To summarize the main concerns, the left turn from Irby Drive is perceived to be exceptionally dangerous during peak hour conditions. There were many requests for roundabouts along Dave Ward Drive (AR 60), Oak Street (AR 64), and Harkrider Street (AR 65). And many complaints on the timing of the signalized intersections.